Photographic apparatus



March 19, 1946. M. SCHWARTZ ETAL PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS Original Filed July 18, 1938 7 Sheets-Sheet l A'ITORI IEY.

March 19,1946. M, SCHWARTZ ET AL Y 2,396,889

PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS Original Filed July 18, 1958 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG-3a.

l lG.3. 2'57 INVENTORS 15/0/7576 .ianmezz ATTORNEY.

March 19, 1946. M, SCHWARTZ ET AL 2,396,889

PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS Original Filed July 18, 1938 '7 Sheets-Sheet 5 F'I 6.4a.

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MORE/S SCHWARTZ W/LL/AM CQSTEflELLO March 19, 1946. M. SCHWARTZ ET AL PHOTOGRAPHI C APPARA'IU 5 Original Filed July 18, 1938 7 Sheets-SheetA ah Q b NMN w In wen Zora" IWOFP/S SCHWARTZ WI. LIAM 60575061160 fliiarney March 19, 1946.

M. SCHWARTZ ETAL PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS Original Filed July 18, 1938 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 FDL khN

o i ,040 twm 2 e Mn 1% w 3 8w haw Patented Mar. 19, 1946 PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS Morris Schwartz, New York, N. Y., and William Castedello, Stamford; Conn., assignors to The Kalart Company, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Original application July 18, 1938, Serial No.

Divided and this application Decemher 9, 1940, Serial No. 369,600

2 Claims.

Our invention relates to photographic picture taking apparatus, especially of the kind .that has contained within said apparatus in one integral unit, the additional features of a range finder, photo flash synchronizer and a holder to contain a dry cell battery.

An object of this invention is to incorporate in said photographic apparatus flashlight synchronizer means integral to the body of said apparatus, and said synchronizer will reset itself automatically after each shutter opening and which will operate the camera shutter of said apparatus and ignite the flash bulb only when the photographic plate or film is ready for subsequent-exposure.

A further object of the invention is ,to provide a photographic apparatus inside of which is incorporated a battery for operating said flashlight arrangement.

This present invention relates to and is a division of our application Ser. No. 220,444 filed July 18, 1938 which on December 1'7, 1940 issued as U. S. Patent No. 2,225,596. 7

As a further description of our invention attention is directed to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and in which- Fig. 1 illustrates a front view of a camera comprising the photographic apparatus showing the mechanism for operating the flashlight bulbs, also the manner in which the flashlights are fitted to'individual reflectors and attached to the camera. Fig. 2 illustrates a different manner of attaching the flashlights to the camera whereby the flashlights are plugged into the body oi the camera proper. The figure further illustrates the camera shown in Fig. 1 when said camera is shut.

Fig. 3 shows an enlarged'view of the front of the camera shown in Fig. 1. In this view the finder is located in a central position with respect to the camera. The flgure further shows the arrangement employed when the flashlight bulbs are plugged into the camera body.

Fig. 3* is a view of the camera body shown in Fig. 3 with the range finder placed on the upper part of said camera body.

Fig. 4 is a section through the camera taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 7 showing the battery arrangement and the position of the ran e finder in the camera when the flashlight is plugged into the camera body.

Fig. i shows the range finder housed in the upper part of the camera and an extra cell of battery housed underneath, said fixed in range finder.

Fig. 5 is a partial cross-section plan view of the camera shown in open position when the bellows of the camera is expanded.

Fig. 5 is a detail view taken on a line ii -ti Of Fig. v;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view showing the camera in open position just preparatory to the closing of the same.

Fig. '7 is a side cross-section view showing the camera in open position with the bellows expanded.

Fig. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the camera carriage adjusting means and the top connection of the dry cell battery.

Fig. 8 shows a further connection of the flashlight synchronizer with the battery within the camera.

Referring to Fig. 4, the camera body 50 comprises a compartment for holding-a set of battery cells on one side of the camera body 52 and a range finder on the opposite side of said body designated at 53. The battery cells 5| are connected in series and said battery is grounded to the camera body by means of a spring contact 54, the latter being so arranged that said spring contact can be slid out of normal position to allow refilling of the camera with battery cell renewals.

In addition to the aforesaid grounding connection for the battery, the spring contact 54 prevents the battery from dropping out of the camera. A cover 66 covers the battery cell refill aperture 55. The battery cells 5| are insulated from the camera proper by means of insulation tubing 55 and also by the insulation washer 51.

The bottom section of the battery cells 5| is connected through a spring 58 to the electrical connection 59. The connection 59 extends across to the opposite side of the camera 63 and terminates at'59 and 59 in the sockets 60 and 6 I.

The electrical connection 59 is insulated from the body of the camera at 62. The apertures 63 and 64 of the sockets 60 and iii are covered through the medium of covers 65, 66.

The range finder 61 is located in the space between the sockets 69 and BI.

The ranger finder 61 has two viewing objective lenses 68 and 69 which extend on the outside of the camera 50.

The arrangement shownin Fig. 4 includes 'four cells of battery and the electrical connection 59 connects an additional cell of battery 5| to the battery 5i.

Referring to Fig. 5. In this figure the camera 50 is shown in open position. The bed I 01 said camera carries parallel rails II, I2. Another pair of rails 13, I4 slide into rails II and I2. Said sliding being attained by the turning of the knob 15. 1

A further addition of a pair of rails 16 and TI is provided and are so arranged that said rails can slide on rails I3 and 34' by pressing upon a spring 18, said spring 10 leaving the rails I6 and I1 free to slide in the rails I3 and I4. (See Fig. 3.)

Pins I9 and 80 serve to limit the movement of the rails I6, TI. The rails 76, ,II are held together by cross-members 8i and 02. The rails I3 and 14 are held together by means of cross-members 83 and 84. The rails II and I2 are secured to the camera bed I0. (See Fig. 6.)

One end of the bellows 85 is secured at designation 86 to the body'of the camera (Fig. 7) the opposite end at 8'! being secured to the lens support 88. The lens support 88 has a pair of Sliding shoes 89 and 90 (Fig. 3), which slide into the rails I6 and 71 when the Winged thumb release 9| is operated by the camera operator. The pins I9 and 80 serve in this case to limit the movement of the lens support 88.

The lens and the shutter 9i are held to the lens support 88 by a plate 92. The flashlight release arrangement 93 is secured directly to the lens support 88. A slidably mounted bar 94 operates the flashlight release arrangement in timed relation to the camera shutter.

An impinging arm 95 operates the shutter9i when said impinging arm 95 depresses the shutter arm 96.

Referring to Fig. 5, the flashlight synchronizer 93 which is operated by the sliding bar 94 is released by depressing a button 91 by the operator. (Fig. 6.)

The button 91 is hinged at 90 in such-a man ner that when it is depressed, a tapered portion 99 carries the elongated bar I00 to swing upward so that the slidably mo'untedbar 94 is pushed into the fiashlightand shutter synchronizer 93 in order to operate the mechanism thereof.

The bar I00 is hinged at IOI and I02 to the rail I4.

When the button 9'1 is depressed by the camera operator a second bar I03 starts to slide on the rail carrier I0 and against the tension of a spring I04. Said bar I03 has a tapered end I and a stepped end I06. The rounded extension I 01 rides over the tapered end I05 of the bar I03 thus forcing the bar I03 in the direction indicated by the arrow. (Fig. 5.) The bar I03 serves as a safety look so that the flashlight synchronizer 93 and theshutter 9| cannot be operated unless the slide of the plate holder is removed from the camera, thus the flash bulb and shutter synchronizer will not function, thus saving an otherwise wasted flash bulb, the aforesaid action furthermore warns the operatorof a misstep in manipulating until the negative plate holder is inserted in the camera and the slide is removed. 1

A forked arm I08 which swings at the pivot bearing I09 is secured to the bottom section of the camera casing IIO. A shaft III which ex tends from the top to the bottom of the camera (see Figs. 4 and 5) operates a, finger II2 which actuates the forked arm I08. The shaft III is actuated by an arm H3 at the top of the camera,

' hinges to the camera box 50 at I I9 and has a casing I3I.

bed strut I20 with a stop pin I2I. Since it is required that the camera be permitted to collapse before the lens carrier is slid into its housed position, a. locking pin I22 is arranged to extend from the body of the camera and toplace itself in the path of the bed strut I20. The pin I22 is operated by a hinging arm I23 which swings at I24, and its lower end I25 is in connection with a hinging forked arm I26.

(See Fig. 5.)

The hinging arm I20 is under tension of the spring I21 and hinges at I28. (See Fig. 6.)

Preparatory to housing the lens support, the pin I29 (Fig. 5) which is secured at the bottom of the rail I3, rides over a tapered side section I30 of the forked hinging arm I26, thus depressing said arm against the spring I21 and allowing the pin I22 (Fig. '7) to be housed into the body of the camera and thus allowing the strut I20 to be released and which will enable the proper housing of the bellows and lens support 88.

The range finder 61 includes a rectangular Another rectangular casing I32 is held to said casing I 3|. (See Fig. 5.)

Referring to the flashlight synchronizer 93 shown in Fig. 3, a hinging arm 95 operates the shutter 9P by depressing the shutter release 96. The mechanism of the flashlight synchronizer is operated by a slidably mounted bar 94, said bar 94 resting on the hinging bar. I00. When the knob 9'! is depressed, said knob causes the bar I00 to swing upward through the tapered portion 99. (See Fig. 6.)

In the arrangement of the flashlight synchro nizer shown in Fig. 1, the wire connections to the battery cells comprise a rail 23! (see Fig. 8) which is insulated from the camera proper through the medium of the flat insulated bar 238. The rail 231 connects the synchronizer to the battery cells 5I by contacting with the battery connection 59. (See Fig. 7

Operation The camera operator first opens the camera by pressing on the release spring 251 which allows the camera bed 70 to-swing outwardly as far as the bed strut I20 will permit. The bed strut I20 looks into the position .on the pin I2I when the rail carrier I0 is opened a, full The operator then inserts the plate or film holder into the camera by placing said holder in the space between the opening of the camera H5 and the ground glass back H6. The plate holder slide is then removed. The shutter operating button 97 cannot be operated unless the slide aforesaid is removed for the following reasons: I I

' The hinging arm which protrudes through the opening H4 and against the plate holder is connected through the medium of the shaft II I to the hinging finger II2. (See Figs. 4 and 6.) Said finger holds the forked arm I08 in position as shown in Fig. '7, so that when the button 91 is depressed and the sliding bar I03 is pushed in the direction ofthe arrow (see Figs. 5 and 7), the stepped end I06 of the flat bar I03 contacts with the extension I 08 of the forked arm I08 and limits the movement of the bar I03. In this manner the bar I03 serves as a safety locking arrangement in connection with the operation of the camera.

As soon as the plate holder slide is removed, the pressure of the finger II2 against the forked arm I08 is released, the forked arm I08 returns to the position shown in Fig. 5 or Fig. '7- due to the pressure of the spring I08 and the sliding bar I03 is thus allowed to advance in the direction shown by the arrow when the knob 91 is depressed by the camera operator.

After the plate holder slide is removed, the operator views the object through the viewing tube I49 and at the same time turns the knob 15 to obtain the correct focus, said adjustment depending upon the distance of the object. The knob I5 is turned until two images of the object being viewed are merged in the range finder.

The next step for taking the picture is to depress the button 91 which operation will swing the bar I upward as shown in Fig. The swinging of said bar I00 operates the sliding bar 94 which in turn operates the mechanism of the flashlight synchronizer 93 as disclosed in the above mentioned Patent No. 2,225,596.

Th synchronizer being grounded to the camera, the current is supplied to the flashlight bulb F for flashing an object at the time of picture taking.

At a predetermined time, the hinging finger 95 contacts with the shutter release 96 and operates the shutter SI thus completing the cycle of taking a picture.

When the operator removes his finger from the button 91, the slidable bar 94 returns to its original resting position shown in Fig. 3 due to the pressure of a spring (not shown) in the flashlight synchronizer.

It is understood that the particular photographic apparatus described above is intended to be merely illustrative and not limitative of the invention, since it is obvious that the invention may be effected by apparatus arranged in other difierent ways, within the scope of the claims.

Now having described our invention, what we claim is: I

1. In a photographic apparatus including a casing having hingedly attached thereto a bed member, a bellows secured at one end thereof to said casing and contiguous to a compartment for receiving a plateholder, the opposite end of said bellows being secured to an objective lens carrier having a shutter associated therewith movable along said bed member, a synchronizer unit mounted on said lens carrier for igniting a flash bulb in timed relation to the tripping of said shutter, a release button in fixed position on said bed member, a first member operable by said release button for releasing said synchronizer unit for any position of said lens carrier, a second member operated by said release button, a blocking element for said second member and means operated by the slide of said plateholder when in said receiving compartment for operating said blocking element to prevent movement of said second member by said release button whereby release of said synchronizer unit is prevented until the removal of said slide from said plateholder.

2. The combination as set forth in claim 1 and including in said casing a compartment for holding battery cells on one side of said bellows receiving compartment and recesses on the other side of said bellows receiving compartment for holding photo flash bulbs and fixed electrical conducting strips for electrically connecting batteries in said battery compartment with photo flash bulbs in said recesses through said synchronizer unit.

' MORRIS SCHWARTZ.

WILLIAM CAS'I'EDELLO. 

